Banana? - aka My Return

"2 stars out of 4"

After giving up on my dreams of becoming a journalist or a film critic, I decided to leave this page for good. But a conversation with my mom last week, sparked a new enthusiasm in me. She said, write for your own joy and heart, and who knows, maybe you will get to where you want. But I'm overall a very flaky person! So, if I write another come back post in a few months, don't be surprised!

So, here we go.

This past weekend, "The Minions", a spin-off of one of the best selling and most beloved animations of all time, "Despicable Me", opened nation-wide. To no surprise, it snagged the second highest opening for animations, only behind "Shrek the Third". The fact that I was disappointed with both these best selling animations, makes me wonder if the film companies take advantage of the popularity of certain characters or cartoons, with an end-product that is obviously based on a not fully-developed plot and story, or if it is the fact that the fans and viewers get their hopes so high that what they demand is unattainable. I'm going with the former theory.

Thanks to "Avatar", now we have the privilege of paying $14 to see XD-3D films, for yet another disappointing experience! What Avatar did was remarkable but I am still waiting to see another "true" 3D movie. Films like "Jurassic World" had a lot of potential to bring an exciting dimension to their stories, but I am guessing the greed of the movie-makers surpasses their capabilities in developing visionary arts.

It was back in 2010, when the world came to know Gru, the most despicable super villain, and his lovely, mischievous minions. Despicable Me had a well-developed story line with the lead character that had come to life by the genius Steve Carrell, as well as, his senile inventor, whose voice was portrayed by Russell Brans, who, c'mon, cannot do anything that is not funny! There were also characters like the 3 orphans, to stimulate sympathetic feelings, and of course, our very own minions. The producers soon discovered that the minions were among the most favorite fictional characters ever to be developed and that they had a promising future in getting their own movie.

Alas...

The minions lacked a charismatic villain. Sandra Bullock's voice-over was not even close to what Gru was to Despicable Me. And I'm not blaming her, so much as I'm blaming the writers. It was as if they made Vector from the first movie the lead character. A recipe for failure.

The second thing is that they basically showed us all the little cute details about the movie in the trailer. There was nothing new to discover in the movie. Sure, the fact about how minions had overcome Scarlet Overkill's reign had been kept a secret. But it wasn't anything original. It seems like since Wallace & Grommit, all the answers for animation characters lies in (***SPOILER ALERT***) accidentally becoming a giant!

The funniest part of this animation was having the location in England and showing us how snooty they are. I almost wished that the Queen Elizabeth's part wouldn't end! But it was very brief, and however much brilliant it was, wasn't enough to rescue the film.

I am giving this movie 2 stars, just by imagening what I would've given it had I not seen the funny parts in the trailer. Otherwise, I am so very disappointed in this movie.

Looking forward to The Secret Lives of Pets coming out next summer. And having fingers crossed for it not to be another disappointment. I doubt that it would be as one of the voice overs in it is done by Louis C.K., who, in my opinion, is the best active comedian in the States right now.